Suitable Teams for Le’veon Bell

Le’veon Bell has been clear with his intentions of wanting to catch the first train out of Pittsburgh. Anybody who pays attention to football will know that. Le’veon has been making headlines, along with fellow Pittsburgh Steelers teammate Antonio Brown, with speculation about where free agency will land him. The Steelers have decided that they will not franchise tag Bell which means his contract will expire and he will officially be a free agent after sitting the entire 2018 season out. Bell is an asset in the run game and he would be a good fit for multiple teams.

Earlier in the season, Bell hinted at wanting to play with Andrew Luck and the Indianapolis Colts. He took to Instagram where he wrote the caption “just imagine” on a picture of Andrew Luck. The picture was describing how Luck was having an incredible comeback season with the help of his offensive line that did not allow a sack for over a month. It seems as if Le’veon is looking for a team with an offensive line. The Colts would benefit heavily from a key piece like Bell in the run game. The Colts run game landed in the middle of the league in 2018 behind Marlon Mack; who rushed for 908 yards. Le’veon would increase production of the offense and prevent the Colts from getting blown out the way they did by the Houston Texans in the wild card round of playoffs.

Another team that would benefit from the likes of Bell would be the Green Bay Packers. Aaron Rodgers is a monster of a quarterback, and has proven that he is capable of winning games all by himself. However, that only gets a team so far, and would never land a team a Super Bowl appearance. If Le’veon were to join Rodgers in Green Bay, Aaron would have a weapon to run the offense through. This would keep the pressure off Aaron Rodgers and allow him more freedom to throw the ball. Even with the lack of defense, the offense would be capable of going into shootouts and staying in games.

The final team that would be a good fit for Bell would be the San Francisco 49ers. San Francisco ranked at number 21 in league rushing stats behind Matt Breida who only rushed for 814 yards. The 49ers have a young upcoming offense behind Jimmy Garoppolo who will be coming back from an injury. Jimmy got off to a great start when he took over for the 49ers in 2017, going 5-0. He came into 2018 and went 1-2 before being injured. Garoppolo is the future of San Fransico and with a back like Le’veon to provide support to the offense, the 49ers would be unstoppable. They would give hell to any defense who dared to approach them.

Le’veon Bell is a talented running back, one of the best in the league, and whatever team lands him will have a talented offense to say the least. The only issue will be the drama that Bell brings, and his unwillingness to compromise on a smaller contract. He believes that he is more valuable than the teams in the league see him as, and that may just be his downfall. While running backs do get paid pennies on the dollar to quarterbacks, and sitting out seemed to work out for the best when it came to Emmitt Smith of the Dallas Cowboys, now may not be the time to make a stand for the position. Especially considering that James Conner came in to replace Le’veon, and was just as successful as Bell would have been. This takes away from Le’veon trying to prove his value, and makes it seem like the run game in Pittsburgh is successful due to the offensive line. Only time will tell how this plays out in the end.

About James Wanner

I am a junior in college currently studying criminal justice, my dream is to be an NFL analyst. I'm huge into football and I can watch it all day. My team is the Dallas Cowboys. Another sport I'm into is basketball.